India and Zimbabwe face each other in the fourth T20I of the five-match series on Saturday, July 13. The Men in Blue are leading the series 2-1 and are looking to seal it in the second last game itself. India captain Shubman Gill won the toss for the fourth time in the series and opted to field first. Gill confirmed that Chennai Super Kings speedster Tushar Deshpande is making his debut in place of another pacer Avesh Khan.
"We'll bowl first. Looks like a fresh wicket. Hopefully there's going to be something in it for the fast bowlers. The death bowling is where we can improve. We got a little complacent. Tushar Deshpande makes his debut in place of Avesh," Gill said at the toss.
Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza said he wanted to bat first anyhow. He confirmed that they are also going with a change for this game with Wellington Masakadaza missing out for Faraz Akram. "We wanted to bat first. The wicket tends to get slower and slower. We've got a vision for 2026, the only way to get better is quality game time. Hopefully our top-three can click. Our idea is for all three departments to perform. The boys are hungry. Wellington Masakadaza misses out. Faraz Akram comes in," Raza said at the toss.
Deshpande becomes the fifth Indian to make a T20 debut in the ongoing series. Before him, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Abhishek Sharma and Sai Sudharasan played received their T20I caps.
India lost the opening low-scoring game of the series but bounced back in the next two matches to take a 2-1 lead. The three T20 World Champions part of this squad - Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube returned to the team for the third game.
The Men in Blue made four changes to the team for the third game, bringing the three World Cup winners and Khaleel Ahmed into the team, while Riyan Parag, Sai Sudharasan, Dhruv Jurel and Mukesh Kumar had to make their way.
India's Playing XI for 4th T20I:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill(c), Abhishek Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson(w), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande, Khaleel Ahmed
Zimbabwe's Playing XI for 4th T20I:
Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza(c), Johnathan Campbell, Faraz Akram, Clive Madande(w), Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, Tendai Chatara
